Day ten: Thursday, March 12, 2015

Buon giorno (good morning)
Today was an early start. We booked a tour through Viator (we booked with credit card points, so it was technically free! ) The tour is called the Best of Tuscany and we were very pleased. 
   We left Florence at 8am and traveled to Siena. It took us about 1.5 hours to get there. We traveled through the picturesque rolling hills of Tuscany. The iconic Mediterranean Cyprus trees surrounded stone houses with tile roofs, all set on great vineyards.  The Tuscan region is notable for its production of olive oil, chianti wine (red), vernaccia wine (white) sunflower oil, cheeses.
   We visited Sienna first. This is a medieval town with narrow streets. We visited the Piazza del Campo (the town center) and the great cathedral. The Piazza del Campo is shaped like a shell. It is the home of the famous Palio de Siena, an ancient horse race that still takes place. The cathedral was initially Roman inspired in architecture but when it was half built, the black plague hit Europe.  Construction halted. When it continued, it was finished in a Gothic style. The colors of Siena are white and black, so the cathedral was built with white and black marble. Inside is georgeous! I guess everyone in Europe was trying to compete for the best cathedral, and this one should be included in that contest.
   On our way back to our tour group, we indulged in some gelato! I like ice cream, but I love gelato. To me, it is more like a sorbet and not heavy. Very refreshing!
    Our next stop was lunch at a tuscan vineyard. We had bruscetta, pasta, and  panna cota. The food was made with the wine and olive oil made at the vineyard. It was delicious! Plus, we had great views of the beautiful countryside. 
    Our next stop was San Gimignano (pronounced San Jim-in-yano). This ancient town was once the guard post for the tuscan region. Now it is a beautiful town filled with souvenir shops and food. It is home to the winner of "best gelato in the world". We couldn't resist, we had more! Alan had chocolate and I had a small amount of vanilla, caramel, and mango. Caramel was the best.
   Our final stop on the tour was Pisa. It was 1.5 hr ride from San Gimignano to Pisa. We had an hour to spend around the Piazza dei Miracoli, which is where the leaning tower of Pisa is located. We did the crazy tourist thing and took pictures of us trying to hold it up and push it over. See below at our attempts! We walked around to look at all the little souvenir stands before we headed back to Florence.
    We had such a great day. It was a great tour and am glad we booked it. Even though it was only a sampling of Tuscany, I felt that we did a lot. A more detailed trip will have to be planned in the future. Just like Paris, it is early spring so most of the trees are just starting to bud. I bed the fall is just georgeous here. The grapes and olives will be in season and all the sunflowers will be high in the sky! That is when I will have to plan my next trip here.

Arrivederci

The iconic Mediterranean Cyprus trees.

A view of the narrow streets of Siena.

This is a bathroom, or water closet sign, stating that it is 50 cents to use the bathroom. You put your coin in the machine and go through the turnstile. It is a reason to make sure you always have change in you!

The Piazza del Campo. The central area of Siena. This is where the horse race takes place.

This is the cathedral. If you notice the doorway arches are rounded but the windows above are pointed. Roman style is rounded but Gothic style is pointed. The first half of the cathedral was built by one architect before the black plague, then a different architect after the black plague. 

The ceiling of the center of the cathedral

A self portrait of Michelangelo 

Tuscan scenery from our lunch stop. The tall towers in the distance is San Gimignano. 

Another Tuscan scenery. So beautiful!

GELATO!  This gelato won the title of best gelato in the world!

Alan trying to hold up and push over the leaning tower of Pisa.

Now I'm trying to hold it up. We had to be silly tourists!

A more serious view. Reasons for the lean: too much marble was placed on one side of the Tower and the soil at that particular spot was softer than where the other buildings stood. We didn't have enough time to climb the tower.